awesome jimi hendrix performing "purple haze" at woodstock in 1969. no surprise rolling stone named him the number one guitarist of all time. hendrix died in 1970. he was just 27 years old. but his music, as we know, always living on. a new hendrix album with 12 previously unreleased tracks set to release in march. "cnn newsroom" continues with brooke baldwin. suzanne, thank you. good to see all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. four weeks, three republican senators have been slamming susan rice and the obama administration. why? all over their response to the attack in benghazi. well, today both sides came face to face. you are about to hear what happened inside that meeting and why those senators are not satisfied today. but, first, the urgent situation that has everyone's attention, members of the house, they're officially back to work as of right now, this hour. senators returned to washington yesterday. so everyone finally on the job

after their week long thanksgiving break. that gives congress and the president, count it with me, 35 days to avoid the dreaded fiscal cliff, the huge package of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect january 1 if congress and the president do not cut a deal. we're told they have been talking behind the scenes and president obama has already hosted congressional leaders for a post election sit-down. but the president is also launching a new pr effort, a campaign, some are calling it here, starting with the white house meeting today, of small business owners. then tomorrow, the president hosts more business owners and a group of middle class americans who would be hurt if the tax hikes take effect the first of the year. then friday, a campaign style stop in pennsylvania, a toy factory of all places, highlighting the importance of middle class consumers in this holiday season. but back in washington, senate leaders, they are speaking out.

you have democrat harry reid saying the president won the election. and it is time for republicans to fall in line. meantime, republican mitch mcconnell not impressed with the president's plans to go back on the road. take a listen. >> look, we already know the president is a very good campaigner, congratulate him on his re-election. what we don't know is whether he has the leadership qualities necessary to lead it a bipartisan agreement on big issues, like we currently face. >> last year of his campaign, every place he went, that's what he talked about. americans, when they voted, raised their voices and supported our pledge. congress must act in accordance with the will of the american people. >> let's kick this conversation off in washington. republican rand paul of kentucky is joining me, kentucky's junior senator, elected in 2010. you probably know this, it bears repeating here, you're opposed to raising any taxes, anyone's

taxes, even some in his party are flirting with compromise on that issue. senator paul, welcome. thank you for joining me. >> good to be with you. >> you know, we did just get an update from the white house on the fiscal cliff negotiations. just take a listen to this, if you would. >> the president spoke with the speaker of the house as well as the senate majority leader over the weekend. he will continue to have discussions with those two leaders as well as leader pelosi and senator mcconnell in the days and weeks coming forward. i don't have a schedule for those conversations to provide to you, but he will speak with them and meet with them as appropriate. >> senator, all this talking, will you tell us, tell americans if you're in the loop, if you are privy, tell us who is talking to who in these fiscal cliff negotiations and where are the talks happening? >> you know, i'm not included in those talks. i've been talking with the folks in my state in kentucky, though, and they're not interested in raising taxes, they think it is

a bad idea for the economy. the only way to have a stimulus to the private sector is to leave more money in the private sector. the other thing that folks in kentucky don't understand is that why is it a fiscal cliff to cut spending? most people in our state think we're spending too much money up here and we should cut spending. in fact, the majority of congress voted for this sequester. why was it a good idea a year ago and now it is not a good idea. >> on spending and spending cuts, you may have something in common with the president, which i want to get to. you mentioned the people in your great state of kentucky and, look, we know and we're all hoping they're out and about shopping, it is holiday season, and in terms of the timing with this -- with this deal, you know, hopefully getting done before january 1, a lot of people want to avoid the tax increase that will automatically happen as people are paying those holiday bills, right? >> here's my question. if it is bad to raise taxes on everyone, why is it good to raise it on half of the nation's income. everybody says, oh, just a few rich people. well, those rich people are half

of the nation's income, about 40% of the nation's income. so it is a bad idea to raise it on 100% of the nation's income, why is it a good thing to raise taxes on 40% of the nation's income. i think it is bad to take more money out of kentucky, more money out of my town in bowling green. i would just assume leave there and i'm not too concerned who has it, if the people who have it, rich, middle class or poor, it is in the private sector and in kentucky buying goods. i don't want it sent up here because i've seen what they do up here. last year we spent $3 million to study monkeys on meth. we spent $2 million -- >> i don't that i lot ink a lote in this country want to hear that and a lot would agree that's a waste of time. we talk taxes and spending, the president set this goal of $4 trillion in debt reduction. $4 trillion, that's not chump change. would it be possible -- would it be possible -- hang on, hang on, senator, would it be possible that you and the president maybe

agree on some of the means to getting to the $4 trillion and if so, where might you agree? >> i think where i'm willing to compromise is that i'm one of the conservatives who believe that national defense is very important, but i'm willing to say that not all money spent on the military is sacred. so i would compromise there. but i'm not willing to raise taxes when we're still spending $300,000 a year on robotic squirrels to watch rattlesnakes attack a robotic squirrel that doesn't wag its tail to see whether or not the rattlesnake will still attack the robot squirrel. $300,000. $2 million spent on how we can convince chinese prostitutes not to drink so much on the job. there is a huge amount of waste. >> i can hear the americans shaking their heads. let me ask you this, if you compromise on defense what about possib possibl possibly, senator paul, raising

t the age. would you be on board with that? >> yes, i don't think we have to trade tax increases for entitlement reforms. we should fix entitlements because they're broken. >> shouldn't democrats and republicans give at the same time? i know democrats say, hey, we won the election, but let's be fair. >> the way i look at it is is entitlements are broken. it is not my fault. it is not democrats' fault. it is because your grandparents had too many babies. it is because we're living longer. these are facts. why not fix entitlements instead of saying only -- i will only fix entitlements if you let me tax rich people. well, taxing anyone in a weak economy is not good. the way revenues will increase in our country and the way we balance our budget or have less of a deficit is to let the economy grow. raising tax rates on rich people will not help the economy grow. in fact, it will send the economy in the wrong direction. >> i understand. i know you signed a pledge and you're sticking to that pledge with regard to the people you represent. so let me move on and ask you this, senator. you have indicated you are interested in running for

president. tell me this, here, how exactly -- how interested are you and have you taken -- i know you smile because you've been asked it before, but let me ask you as well, have you taken any concrete actions to start lining up support? honest answer, please. >> well, you know, i've said i won't deny that i'm interested. little bit different than i am interested. >> let's read between the lines. what does that mean, sir? >> i want to be part of the national debate. i think my party, the republican party is shrinking. we're in danger of becoming a dinosaur. we're not competitive on the west coast. we're not competitive in new england. we weren't competitive around the great lakes. so we need a new type of republican. i think that involves some of the ideas of libertarian leaning republicans, people who believe in a less aggressive foreign policy, people who believe we're in the going to deport 12 million hispanic votes. >> hang on, let me go back to something you said. why are you afraid of become a dinosaur? >> you look at it, we're not competitive. in huge areas of the country. some of the biggest states,

california, new york, illinois, we're not competing anymore. we don't even advertise there. once you give up those electoral votes, we're getting down to where we have to -- we're in ohio every time, we have to win florida and ohio every time. what we need to do is be competitive throughout the united states, and i think young people want a less aggressive foreign policy. they don't want to put people in 20 years in jail for marijuana use or nonviolent crimes. and i think they want a little bit different approach to immigration. >> okay. you say you want to be part of the national dialogue. perhaps a bigger part of it. we shall see. senator rand paul, thank you very much, we appreciate it. >> thank you. and now to the face to face meeting today between u.n. ambassador susan rice and her chief republican critics. ambassador rice on capitol hill, just this morning, to meet with the people you see on your screen here. you have senator john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte. she went to address concerns

they have over statements the ambassador made over the u.s. mission in benghazi on september 11th that left ambassador chris stevens and three other americans dead. i want you to listen to what senator graham, republican south carolina, here, said immediately after the meeting ended. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think does not do justice to the reality at the time, and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. but here's the key. in real time, it was a statement disconnected from reality. >> and now here is senator ayotte. >> i want to say that i'm more troubled today, knowing -- having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice, because it's certainly clear from the

beginning that we knew that those with ties to al qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy. and clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people, was wrong. in fact, ambassador rice said today, absolutely it was wrong. i don't understand the cia said clearly that that information was wrong. >> dana bash, let me bring you in, senior congressional correspondent, i think i saw you in the crush of reporters earlier today on the hill. set me straight. heading into this closed door meeting, the story was the senators seemed to be -- or john mccain seemed to be backing off some of the criticism of ambassador rice, and in listening to that stakeout and the three senators i'm hearing words like troubled and failed and bad. what happened in the meeting? >> reporter: well, the reason i'm told that they did soften the rhetoric and they did going into this meeting is because susan rice requested a meeting and the senators said that they felt that it was the right thing to do to kind of ease up on her

publicly while they were waiting to hear what she said privately. as you can hear from the senators they were less than pleased. that's probably an understatement with what they heard. and, you know, that's their side of this. on the other side, the democrats who i've talked to feel that they did not think the meeting was as bad as republicans made it out to be. we actually have a statement on the record, a statement from susan rice herself, talking specifically about those talking points, those unclassified talking points she used that turned out to be wrong. >> what did she say? >> reporter: the initial assessment upon which they were based were incorrect and in a key respect. there was no protest or demonstration of benghazi. while we certainly wished we had perfect information just days after the terrorist attacks, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. we stressed that neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage of this process, and the administration updated congress and the american people

asmentmes evolved. that's her side. i'm told behind closed doors it was wrong. i'm told she said i regret i was part of this, that this happened. and she made that very clear, but these republican senators, i talked to them afterwards, specifically kelly ayotte, she said what concerns her the most is that the ambassador didn't ask enough questions before publicly going out and being the face and words of the administration about what exactly happened and it was her responsibility to do so. >> on those five different shows. i'm just curious, sort of like the public perspective versus the perspective on capitol hill behind the three senators because we have this new poll, 54% are dissatisfied with the administration's benghazi response but do not think officials deliberately misled the public. is that the view on capitol hill? >> reporter: you know, probably. i think if you say 54%, let's talk about the senate, the place

where they have the ability to approve or not susan rice's nomination. i look at it as it is probably about 54% who would say yes, maybe more at this time. the issue, though, is that you do have a republican like the three who susan rice met with and others like senator bob corker meeting with her tomorrow who is saying, really in an outspoken way today, to our congressional producer and others in the hallway, he thinks she's political, she would be best for the chair of the dnc, the democratic national committee, not the state department. so that really is another really, really important subplot here, brooke, these republicans think that she was chosen to go out on the sunday shows because she is somebody who has a political sensibility, weeks before the election, and that she, you know, that's kind of the spin she put on it. in fairness to susan rice, i talked to democrats who say that, you know, look, who else was going to go out there? hillary clinton, we're told, simply did not want to do it because she lost one of her own

and she was in a bad state and she was the appropriate person to do it at the time, that is going to be debated until the end of time. >> okay. dana bash, we thank you for that. i want to keep the conversation going when it comes to the ambassador, because, you know, it is pretty apparent the administration is putting rice here in the spotlight. so who exactly is she? my next guest talks about the ambassador's reputation as a pretty tough diplomat. and the time she -- she showed the bird to a certain someone in a meeting. plus, the egyptian president standing firm in the face of protest over his recent power grab. and today those protests have turned deadly. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. want to keep the focus here on ambassador susan rice. ambassador rice has been center, as you know, of the political firestorm ever since the benghazi attack happened this past september and then the comment she made on multiple sunday morning talk shows. now her name is being tossed about seriously as a replacement for secretary of state hillary clinton. we wanted to know the back story, who is susan rice. i wanted to bring in jane newton small, correspondent for "time" magazine she went through the pros and cons of susan rice.

as you write in your piece there are whispers to multiple media outlets she's his number one choice, a great rapport. how did that develop? >> well, he said if i want to name her and i think she's most qualified person, he threw down the gauntlet and said i kind of -- that's what everyone thinks she's going to be named but they have been really close. when i covered the 2008 campaign, she was out campaigning for him and she actually defied -- you remember, she served in the clinton administration, her meant wears madeleine albright and she worked closely with bill clinton and it was assumed she would endorse hillary clinton. when early on in the 2007-2008 campaign she endorsed rk russ d obama, the clintons felt very betrayed.

it got her street cred with president obama. >> in terms of policy, i was reading a column and they write about how rice is a proponent of intervention. >> back when she was in the clinton administration, she was head of international peacekeeping and the international security council and it was during the time of rwanda and she famously said she would rather burn her own career down rather than making the mistake of not intervening in genocide again. she's credited with sort of pushing the obama administration into going into libya and has also pushed hard to get into syria as well. >> you write something in your piece i know i hasn't heard about. she famously flipped richard holbrooke the bird in a meeting years ago and is known to have sharp elbows. reading she might -- one of her favorite words is a word i cannot repeat on television.

she seems tough. that could be a good thing, jay, especially in politics, but you say in diplomacy not so much, why? >> diplomacy is saying polite things in front of the public. when you go on cameras and on television as she did on the sunday shows after the benghazi attacks, the less you say, the better. it is about saying the really harsh things behind the scenes but then in the front of the cameras, not so much. it is the opposite of politics. politics you say the really harsh things in front of the cameras and then say, okay, i'll compromise here or there and everywhere behind off the scenes. and so in that sense she is pretty political. and but we have had had political secretaries of state before, james bakker comes to mind, like a bull in a china shop but yet incredibly effective. >> jay newton small, "time" magazi magazine, good to see you. crane catches fire just before collapsing. look at is. we're now hearing it involves the same company behind that crane accident in new york

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egyptian protesters spent another day on the streets of cairo, calling their president the new pharaoh. fearful of another dictatorship. at least one demonstrator was killed today. the opposition says he died after inhaling excessive amounts of tear gas. tahrir square now look at this, a tent city. demonstrators say this is where they will remain until president mohamed morsi backs away from his controversial decree, which says no person, no authority can overrule his decisions until a new constitution is put in place. tissue samples from yasser arafat's body are in the hands of forensic experts. his grave was opened today in ramallah. samples were taken from his remains. the exact cause of the former palestinian leader's death has long been a mystery.

now testing will be done to find out if arafat was in fact poisons. >> the indications we have or the convictions we have that israel have done this assassination but yet we still need evidence. >> israel meantime denied those allegations. a fiery scene in downtown sydney, australia, today. look at this with me and you'll see a cab, look at this, of a construction crane engulfed in flames, black smoke. it gets worse. because this is the moment when the crane, this arm here collapses, falls into a building, barely misses the busy street below. here's where the story gets a little bit more intriguing. the operator of the crane was also the manager of the crane that collapsed in new york during superstorm sandy. drugs, gangs, murder. one expert says that is exactly what many americans think of mexico and the country's newest leader here, the president elect, about to set down with

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let's solve this. mexico's next president has a message for u.s. officials, ties between the neighboring countries must go beyond the drug war. just four days before his inauguration, mexican president elect enrique pena nieto is in washington, meeting with lawmakers. he'll be meeting with the president, president obama, next hour. fernando del rincon is with me. president elect here has said repeatedly that, you know, he doesn't want to as much focus on security and the drug war, that it is really the economy, right, in deepening economic ties with the u.s. that is his priority. >> yes, absolutely. that's correct. there is a really interesting numbers out, we can talk about, and why he thinks economics is the main topic. and that's what he's trying -- >> why? >> -- to turn around.

let's think about this, the general secretary says mexico will grow 3.8% in his economy this year. now, talking about 2013, growing 3.6%. 2014 will be 3.6%. that's a much more than we expect from u.s. and europe. now, one of the topic is energy. the president is focusing a lot on energy. so what is u.s. looking for? energy also. president obama said that several times that we want -- we need to be efficient in terms of energy. that would be a door that would open a lot of opportunities for mexican government in terms of bilateral relationships and growth in terms of jobs. that's another thing he's talking about. i don't know if he's selling the idea because of the job situation in the united states, but it could be a reality.

>> helps sustain, something like 6 million jobs in the united states. he -- the president elect pena nieto sat down with wolf blitzer a little while ago. let's play part of that interview. >> what is the biggest problem in u.s./mexican relations right now? >> translator: -- good understanding and my purpose then is to create a relationship, to built a relationship based on trust and relationship positive constructive that would allow us to understand the world affais z and matters that both peoples have to face and based on this agreement, we'll reach relationship of brotherhood. >> i know it was tough to hear

part of the initial translation, but you heard it, point being, make sure that the trust is there, build on the trust. how does he do that? >> okay, first of all, because of the declarations like this, because i told you one side of the story, in terms of economics there is numbers, there is growth, but there is a lot of analysts in mexico that think this is just a -- >> why? >> they think that's a way he should start, visiting the united states. why? we're neighbors and because -- >> trade partners. >> well, third in the world. and there is an economic trade between canada, u.s. and mexico. they have to take care of that. and when you think about 1.6 million that the u.s. imports to mexico to fight against drugs, drug trafficking, he has to visit the united states first. for a lot of analysts they don't think this is a big deal.

it is just a visit and a way of making his way to the presidency. this weekend he will take positions. >> there is so much more from interview. we'll watch the situation room with the president elect, fernando, thank you very much. >> thank you, brooke. three weeks after election day, a county in illinois finally breaks a tie vote for a county board seat. but you have to see how they did it. wait for it.

heads or tails, not exactly a question you want to answer wrong with an election on the line. but that is exactly what happened in dewitt county, illinois. this county board seat was up for grabs. both candidates ended up with the exact same amount of votes. is there specific rules on how to settle a tie here? yes, election officials had to get creative to decide the

winner. jacob long picks up the story. >> reporter: dewitt county clerk recorder smith is digging through her purse for a coin. >> there it is. >> reporter: the reason is -- >> you never know. anything is possible. >> reporter: smith's search is successful. >> we have a quarter. we're going to go for it. >> reporter: when the clock strikes three, she flips the quarter into the air. >> tails. >> reporter: but this is no ordinary coin toss. it is deciding the outcome of a county board race. >> we just needed something to break the tie, so here we are. >> reporter: republican incumbent terry ferguson and independent george miller want to serve district b. the problem, election results show they're dead even. >> we waited 14 days for absentees to come in. we counted. we now have a tie between two of them.

>> reporter: since the state has no specific rules for a situation like this, the clerk is getting creative. and flipping a coin. >> it is a head. >> reporter: as the incumbent ferguson goes first, calling tails, but the quarter lands on heads, meaning he loses. >> well, a little disappointed. but, you know, i guess that's the -- that's the way the quarter gets flipped. >> reporter: miller is the winner. he isn't thrilled. he says this process is like gambling. >> i'm simply not willing to do it. >> reporter: to prove his point, he's not taking a paycheck for his seat. it is an ending to an already unique race both men say they didn't see coming. >> i'm glad it's over. >> the defeated incumbent isn't happy with the results of the coin flip. he said he's looking into a recount but thanks to our affiliate wmbd. now this, an index that measures the pulse of the

nation's housing market turned in a strong showing here. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. are we talking about a comeback, alison? >> if you ask the head of this home price index, he'll tell you it is safe to say we are now in the midst of a recovery. here is a bonus. for so long all of our good news with housing, it's been for the buyers. finally good news for the sellers. home prices jumped more than 3.5% from july through september. this is the biggest percentage gain for prices in more than two years. a bunch of things are boosting prices, low mortgage rates, the jobs market is getting better, a number of foreclosures is falling, all that helping to boost the home prices. brooke? >> black friday, cybermonday, now officially behind us. give us an update on the consumer confidence here. >> the number we found out about consumer confidence they put the exclamation point in the jump we saw in spending this past hole take weekend. consumer confidence hit its highest level since 2008. they're feeling more optimistic

about the jobs market and that's good for the economy. when people are feeling optimistic, they go out and spend more. still with so many people shopping early, the key is going to see if this momentum continues over the next four weeks between black friday and christmas because what happened last year was they came out in droves at the beginning, right near black friday, and then those shoppers, poof, disappeared. so the retailers are hoping we don't see a repeat performance. >> alison kosik, thank you. an actor from the tv comedy "two and a half men" is calls his show filth and asking you not to watch. find out what religion has to do with this controversy. yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah?

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if you don't know who he says, perhaps you know the name, angus t. jones, he's been starring in "two and a half men." today he's 19, so he's grown up before our eyes in television. and now he's turned against the millions he's been making, as

you will hear in this online clip. >> i can be a christian and be on a show like "two and a half men," you can't. you can't be a true god fearing person and be on a television show like that. i know i can't. i'm on "two and a half men." i don't want to be on it. please stop watching it. please stop filling your head with filth. >> stop filling your head with filth, he says. from the video, it appears jones converted to the seventh day adventist church and is denouncing a contract that pays him nearly $8 million over two years. as for the show, right now they're saying no comment. why is all of this happening? why is jones saying what he is? and what does this have to do with being a seventh day adventist? cnn.com religion editor dan gilgoff joins me. you see the clip and you see him sitting there next to a man, there is this other man on his right-hand side, this is

christopher hudson. you've talked to him. who is he? >> right. i just hung up with christopher about an hour or two ago. he describes himself as an evangelist for the seventh day adventist, based in alabama. just last week he was put in touch with angus, the actor, flew out to california and spent some time filming him for the testimonials that have caught all this attention online. this guy, christopher, says that ever since the videos went up a couple of days ago, his phone has been ringing off the hook and so he feels like mission accomplished. the message about the church is getting out there. he also tells me that he just talked to angus yesterday, he's doing well and he's happy with how everything is going in terms of reaction so far. >> okay. so take me back, you mentioned the message of the church or this group, seventh day adventist. who are they and what is their message? >> they believe in this kind of purity of lifestyle, and of body. so they are vegetarians, they

avoid alcohol, and it is helpful to think about them in terms of believing that the end times are very near, that we're inhabiting the end times and that jesus christ's return is imminent. it grew out of this movement, this apocalyptic movement that happened in the united states about 150 years ago. when this scheduled or predicted apocalypse failed to occur, the seventh day adventists were born as an apocalyptic movement 2.0. >> with all that said, do you think angus jones wants to leave the show and the multimillion dollar contracts because, you know, his faith is telling him to do so? or was this his own call? >> it is hard to know if this is something that has to do particularly with the seventh day adventist church or if this is something that speaks to kind of the zeal of the converted. he appears to have converted just earlier this year, from what christopher, the guy who shot the video says, and so it

might not have anything to do with the seventh day adventists per se, it may have to do with him being a new religious person and these new converts oftentimes adhere more tightly to the scriptures of the church than anyone else. that is what we may be seeing playing out right now. >> dan, thank you for coming on and explaining it to us. appreciate it. innocent children killed when a bomb went off in their schoolyard, just out and about playing in syria. my next guest is from the group called save the children and they'll explain why it is much more to this attack than merely a cluster bomb. [ male announcer ] it started long ago.

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now to syria where the human cost of war took a very heavy, heavy toll this week. as we have been showing you, on this newscast, video surfaced of an attack that i have to warn you right now it is really just horrible beyond words. but here it is. what you're seeing what you're hearing, panicked parents, adults, carrying young children from a playground to a makeshift hospital. the scene is frantic. you can hear the shock in the voices of the parents as they cry out for help.

so many children, they're injured, they're bleeding, ten of them dead. the syrian activist who posted this video on youtube say the children were killed by a cluster bomb, a device so terrible, most of the world bans the use of them. kimberly brown is a conflict adviser with save the children. she joins me now from london. i know, kimberly, you are working to confirm that the activists' claim this was or was not a cluster bomb. can you confirm that? >> i understand that groups are still working to verify this, but the evidence is very compelling, yes. >> a cluster bomb, explain it to us, it is one big bomb that explodes, right, and shards fall. >> yeah. a cluster bomb is a large munition, it can be fired from the ground or dropped from the air. it opens up in the air and scatters dozens or hundreds of smaller munitions on the ground. and you can understand there are very serious problems with this. one, the bomb does not

discriminate between military targets and civilians. the other being that many of the smaller bomblets that scatter everywhere fail to detonate on impact. so they can kill civilians, maim and kill civilians for years or decades after the conflict has ended. >> seeing these children dead, one report i read all under the age of 15 here, just out playing, do you think this represents a new height of desperation in this bloody civil war? >> i mean, this is -- it is a horrible thing. when we see use of these cluster munitions, which are banned under international humanitarian law, it is a very dire situation. this is a huge problem that it is going to new lows, these banned weapons are being used and civilians and children are being killed. >> one of our international -- senior international correspondents, arwa damon, filed a report from the syrian border with turkey, she shows this refugee camp on the border, that is being actually targeted, the camp is being targeted by air strikes. turkish officials wouldn't let

our reporter into the camp. it is not at all safe for her to do that. she actually spoke on the phone with a teacher, let's listen and we'll talk on the other side. >> the turkish military asked us to move from our other location but the teach wears telling us that she's been living in the camp for four months. he said there are around 12,000 people who were there. he was in the process of giving one of his classes when the first strike took place. he said it was complete and total chaos, the children were screaming, yelling, the entire camp began trying to run for the borders for safety. >> so even in refugee camps, children are not safe. have you ever seen this kind of thing before, kimberly? >> i mean, for us, our key concern is we're working in the refugee camps in iraq, with refugees in iraq, jordan and lebanon. we're seeing children who are traumatized from the experiences that they have had within syria. save the children is working with those children to get them past that. but it is very difficult and these experiences are very

traumatizing including this use of explosive weapons and populated areas, and other horrific things we have seen reported from inside syria. >> the syrian regime says they are targeting terrorists, but children are certainly not that. kimberly probrown with save the children from london. thank you. that's one smart board. what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ whooshing ] tell me about it. why am i not going anywhere? you don't believe hard enough. a smarter way to shop around. now that's progressive. call or click today. [ grunting ]

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your money needs an ally. for the very first time, the department of education has released state by state high school graduation rates using this new rigorous formula. topping the list here, four-year high school graduation rates with 88% here, you have iowa followed closely by vermont at 87%, coming in at the bottom really is new mexico and nevada. last is our nation's capital, washington, d.c., with just 59%. but even more shocking than the

dismal graduation rates are the obvious achievement gaps. for example, ohio, graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students was 65%. for all students it was 80%. advice on making smart decisions when it comes to managing student loan debt. here is alison kosik with today's help desk. >> hi there. here on the help desk we're talking about managing your student loans. with me this hour are greg olson and carmen wong ulrich. carmen, here's your question. >> i was just wondering how i'm going to avord a minimum wage job with all the student loans i have to pay for and i just graduated from college. >> i feel for her. >> wow, wow, wow. it is a tough situation. we got to know what type of loans does she have. if she's got private loans, unfortunately she's in a real big pickle because here's the thing, low flexibility, but call them right away. if you're pro active about this, you can try to work with them before you get into trouble. if she's got federal loans, though, there is the income-based repayment program.

she's got to look into that. basically it is only a part of your discretionary income that goes to pay it every month. so as her income goes up, her bill will go up. that's good because it will never too unmanageable. >> any suggestions? >> mom, how's my bedroom doing. >> exactly. >> it is hard because you want to go to school, you have to take out the loans and figure out how to pay them back in a market where it is hard to find a decent wage. >> go for federal all the time. >> good advice. if you have an issue you want our experts to tackle, upload a 30-second video with your help desk question to ireport.com. top of the hour here, good to be with you. i'm brooke baldwin. it is not an election. we just had one of those of course here. but it is an outbreak of election style tactics in the brewing washington battle over the fiscal cliff. president obama is launching a new pr effort, a campaign if you will, starting with a meeting

today, the white house, small business owners, tomorrow he hosts a group of middle class americans who would take a hit if those fiscal cliff tax hikes take effect. and on friday, he heads to pennsylvania, small toy factory in fact, to highlight the role middle class consumers play in this holiday shopping season. back in washington, republicans, they don't like it. they say they want to see the white house leadership and not a return to the campaign trail. but the white house spokesman insists the president is promoting a serious plan. here he was. >> here is a fact. the president has on the table a proposal that reduces the deficit by $4 trillion, that does so in a balanced way, that includes substantial cuts to discretionary, nondefense spending over a trillion dollars, that includes revenue and includes $340 billion in savings from our health care entitlement programs. >> joining me now from new york, rick newman, chief business correspondent for u.s. news and

world report. we like to call him our go to explainer in chief. rick, good to see you. >> hi, brooke. >> hate to beat a dead horse here, but you've been writing about republicans beginning to abandon their no tax pledge. we're talking about this teeny tiny handful of republicans here. do you think this is the beginning of a wave? >> we need something like 100 republicans or more for something like this to get through the house. but when you start to see some prominent republicans who have leadership positions such as lindsey graham and bob corker in the senate and peter king in the house, they haven't said overall now we changed our tune, we're in favor of raising taxes, what they said is okay, maybe we will budge on tax increases of some form in exchange for some cuts to entitlements and things like that. so that's clearly a major difference in their stance. there is going to be a lot of tough negotiating that goes on here. no question about it. but the thing that has changed is the republicans are beginning to signal they will accept tax increases as part of some kind

of deal to solve this fiscal cliff problem and start dealing with the $16 trillion debt. >> so you brought up some of the names. where do you seat republican party right now? are they beginning to line up behind the bob corkers and the saxby chambliss and lindsey graham willing to talk about new taxes on the wealthy, or is the party still, like, say, rand paul, i talked to him a short time ago. take a listen. >> -- willing to raise taxes when we're still spending $300,000 a year on robotic squirrels to watch rattlesnakes attack a robotic squirrel that doesn't wag its tail to see whether or in the the rattlesnake will still attack the robot squirrel. $300,000. $2 million spent on how we can convince chinese prostitutes not to drink so much on the job. >> i mean, i jumped in because i can hear everyone shaking their heads and thinking that is a total waste. but is that the mind set of most republicans? >> i think the robotic squirrel is going to be a big item on

hole biday shopping lists this year. i can see republicans splitting into two groups. i think there will be one group that regretfully supports some tax hikes, probably because these will be republicans who have safe seats and they did afford to do it. they're not likely to get kicked out of congress in the next election by doing so. i think the other group will -- of republicans will continue to take a hard line against any tax increases for two reasons. some of them truly believe we shouldn't raise taxes and this whole problem should be solved by cutting spending. and others are going to be in tight races in the midterms coming up in 2014 and they can't really afford to take that stance. so the republicans in safer seats are going to provide some cover for other republicans who will continue to oppose this. we need a majority in the house. >> you're absolutely right. look, you know, we're all getting this refresher course on grover norquist, though i was talking to john avalon yesterday and he said don't -- message to republicans, don't fear the grover. we know norquist is a lobbyist

for years, he prevailed upon republicans, not signing -- not raising taxes by signing this pledge. no revenues whatsoever. moments ago, democrat chuck schume wear was on the senate f bidding grover norquist good riddance. watch this. >> grover norquist had a good run. it lasted far longer than 15 minutes but his trstringent vie make him an outliar now. it is not unlike ralph reed who steered the republican party too far right on social issues in the '90s and is hardly heard from anymore. >> is he, rick, spiking the football, maybe on the 5 yard line? is this a little too premature to be writing off the grover norquist here and the no new tax movement in the republican party? >> yes, i think it is too premature. grover norquist has become a convenient boogie man, merely because we have maybe hit a tipping point on tax increases and voters are starting to accept the idea that taxes have

to go up a little bit on some people. we have got a long way to go, though. we still are going to have to start talking about tax increases on the middle class at some point. that is going to be an entirely different battle. the nmagnitude of the problem will require increases on the middle class or tax cuts that are really deep. the tax increases is going to solve this problem, this is step one out of 100 steps. this is a long way to go and this is going to be a long battle. >> the president is talking about shrinking the size of government. $4 trillion over the next decade. that has to be tough, right? is there a way to produce a soft landing here that won't hurt americans? won't hurt the economy? >> everybody wants to know how can we do this while putting the pain on somebody else? and we're going to start doing that, i think, in 2013. that's just simply not going to solve the problem. every credible plan, bipartisan plan that explains how you have to do this calls for tax

increases, such as a 15 cent per gallon hike in the gasoline tax. that was in the bowls simpson report. moderate increases in tax rates or fewer dedukctions for virtually all taxpayers. this is not something we can solve by minor tax increases on a few americans. this is a start. if it is going to really make a difference it going to have to affect most americans and that's how we'll know this is a serious effort to deal with the $16 trillion debt. >> rick newman, thank you. >> thanks, brooke. this hour, mexico's president elect sits down with the president of the united states at the white house. and at the top of that agenda, the possibility to deepen economic ties win the two countries. let's go to the white house, to our correspondent there, dan lothian. dan, the meeting happening, we know, this hour. what is to come of it? >> well, first of all, you know, for so long the relationship between the united states and mexico has focused on immigration, on issues of fighting the drug war. but this new president elect

pena nieto wants to really sort of broaden that, and talk more and focus more on economic ties between the two countries, as you know. billions of dollars between mexico and the united states when it comes to imports and exports. they also see the mexicans see more potential for business ties with the u.s., when it comes to trade, when it comes to manufacturing, when it comes to energy investments. some of the same things we heard president obama talk about. but we also can't forget the issue of immigration because a lot of the workforce here in this country comes from mexico and then there is the issue of what do you do about illegal immigrants in this country. something the president said he wanted to tackle in his first term he did not. he's promising to do in his second term. we heard from white house spokesman jay carney saying yesterday that the president senses a real opportunity here to move forward, that he believes that comprehensive immigration reform is achievable. so this is a long-standing relationship between the two countries, focusing on a whole host of issues, but the mexicans hoping it can focus more on

economic issues than it has in the past. >> so economic issues, comprehensive immigration reform. i are have to ask you about the issue in terms of fighting drug cartels. how will president elect pena nieto be different in his approach? >> reporter: that's right. you make a very important point there, because felipe calderon for much of his six years in power in mexico focused on going after those drug cartels, and, in fact, the u.s. had helped financially providing about $1.6 billion in aid to mexico in the fight against these drug lords from the president elect he's talked a lot about going after drug violence, but really hasn't laid out a lot of specifics. so i think it remains to be scene exactly how he plans to tackle that issue. it is still important for the mex canni mexicans and still important from this side of the border as well. the focus they want to see is more towards economic issues.

>> dan lothian at the white house. appreciate it, dan. up next, susan rice comes face to face with the republicans who have been bashing her for weeks. find out what happened behind closed doors today and why those senators say they now have more questions now than before. plus, it is a debate you're about to hear over and over. question, should children suffering from cancer be allowed to use medicinal marijuana? think on it. dr. sanjay gupta tells me whether it is a good idea next. that's one smart board. what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ whooshing ] tell me about it. why am i not going anywhere? you don't believe hard enough. a smarter way to shop around. now that's progressive. call or click today. [ grunting ] part of a whole new line of tablets from dell.

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u.s. ambassador susan rice -- excuse me, u.n. ambassador susan rice went to capitol hill to calm the furor over the attack on the embassy in benghazi, libya. she met with her chief critics, john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte. they have been critical of rice's initial explanation on the sunday talk shows on what was behind the september attack that killed four americans including ambassador chris stevens. here is senator lindsey graham's reaction after that meeting. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september

explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think does not do justice to the reality at the time, and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. but here's the key, in real time it was a statement disconnected from reality. >> dana bash, let me bring you in, our senior congressional correspondent. you were there among the reporters and producers there as we saw the three senators. prior to today's closed door meeting, it sounded like the three were softening, right, their criticism of the ambassador. what happened in that meeting to change their minds? >> reporter: well, i talked to some of the senators in that meeting and basically they said publicly right at that stake out that they believe that -- that she didn't answer some of the questions, and some of the questions that they had she did answer made them more upset. one of the key issues for these senators, they say, was not just

that she said that in a couple of interviews that it was a spontaneous demonstration, what she now admits on the record was incorrect and she -- because she was getting incorrect information from the intelligence community, but she knew in a classified way but admitted, i'm told in the meeting today that al qaeda may have been behind the attack, and yet she went on and at least in one interview to say that the obama administration has decimated al qaeda. what i'm told she told senators in this meeting is that she regrets not saying that what she really meant, which is that the core leadership of al qaeda was decimated. why does this matter? because that is really -- that goes to the heart of the republican criticism that she was political, that her comments were politically motivated. what she says, i'll read her statement she put out on classified talking points she used. she said they were incorrect in a key aspect, there was no

protest or demonstration in benghazi. while we wish we had had perfect information days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case the intelligence assessment evolved. we stress that neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage in this process. brooke? >> i'm told senator lieberman made news on the hill. what did he say just now? >> reporter: very interesting. susan rice came back for another meeting this afternoon that just wrapped up with senator joe lieberman because he is the chair of the homeland security committee. he came out and, you're right, had a very different take. he just told reporters moments ago that he believes that she is qualified to be secretary of state or anything else if the president chooses to nominate her and didn't hear anything in the private classified meeting he had moments ago to make him think otherwise. a very different take than senators graham and mccain and ayotte and i just to give you an interesting subplot here, joe

lieberman and mccain and graham, used to be impossible to find daylight between the three of them. they were the three ameegos, they almost never disagreed on anything when it comes to policy during the campaign, the presidential campaign, mccain aids said to make him happy they would give him cookies and joe lieberman. but in this particular case, they have a difference. bad news for susan rice is that joe lieberman won't be here next time if she does come up for a vote because he's retiring. >> right. says he's done. dana bash, thank you. thank you for the cookies and joe lieberman. that was fun. would you let a first or second-grader or any child use medical marijuana? an oregon mother says yes, and is allowing her 7-year-old to have the drug to cope with pain from leukemia. but is it safe? dr. sanjay gupta weighs in on that next. ♪

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parents, if your child was suffering from a serious illness, would you let him or her use medical marijuana? one mother says yes, she's in oregon. she's allowing her 7-year-old to have the drug to cope with the pain from leukemia, but is it really safe? dr. sanjay gupta weighs in.

sanjay? >> reporter: brooke, the issue of safety is the first one that comes up. often in these discussions. and let me just preface by saying doing the studies that need to be done are difficult in this country. because marijuana is illegal. so it is difficult to do for that reason and also because these are children we're talking about specifically. there have been studies from other countries including one from the netherlands looking specifically at adolescents versus adults. what they basically concluded was that people who started taking marijuana earlier on in life did have some -- more likely to have long-term impact. by age 38, those people had a drop of about eight iq points as compared to the general population. with adults who started marijuana later on in life, that long-term impact was less clear. but, again, these are hard studies to do. in the case of micayla specifically, she has a fairly treatable form of leukemia. some of the side effects of the

cancer and the treatments that she's taking the medical marijuana. for example, the nausea associated with chemotherapy, marijuana can be effective in treating that type of nausea and the pain and specifically what is known as neuropathic pain, that pins and needles shooting pain can also be treated with marijuana. the question that a lot of doctors want to know is it safe, is it effective, more effective than what is already out there. zofran is a medication that can be used to treat nausea. these are questions that are going to come up again and again. micayla is not the only one. 51 other children are on the marijuana registry for medicinal purposes in oregon. so this is an issue that is going to come up again and again. 18 states brooke, now legal for medicinal and two for recreational use. we'll talk about this more and

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like aarp medicarecomplete. let's get you on the right path. call today. ♪ as president obama, mexico's president elect meet this hour, i want to tell you about a tragic end to a courageous stand against one of mexico's murderous drug cartels. 36-year-old maria santos gorrostieta was hailed as a true heroine after being the mayor of a small town after death threat after death threat. twice they tried to assassinate her, leaving her terribly injured, killed her husband, but on the third attempt the assassinators won. reportedly she begged her killers to spare the life of her

child. cnn's senior latin affairs editor rafael romo is here. i can't believe they went after her a third time here. she stepped down from her post, what, a year ago? why was she still a target? >> she finished the term. there are two possibilities authorities are looking into. one, she changed political parties right before running for a higher office that was last year after she stepped down as mayor. and number two, according to some reports in mexican media, her husband might have been involved in drug trafficking at some point in his life. again, that's not confirmed by cnn. that's what mexican media reports are saying. so right now many open questions about this case and nobody has really pinpointed the actual reason why she was targeted. >> what about her daughter? >> she's doing fine. >> she was left in the van. >> considering what happened to her. this happened -- that's the most tragic thing about this whole thing. it was 8:30 in the morning. this is in the capital city of

morela, now in the town where she was from. she got intercepted by a group of armed men, got taken away, while her young daughter was witnessing all of this, and according to some reports crying hysterically. >> how old? >> no more than 10 years old. we don't have the exact age. but you can imagine the kind of psychological trauma that that can inflict on a child that young. >> can't imagine. we know that in last two years, what was the number, two dozen mayors have been killed in the last six years, all because of drug violence. the question would be why isn't more being done? >> well, the reality is that if you look at mexico, it is a mixed picture when it comes to what drug cartels have been able to do in terms of targeting public officials, elected officials. for example, in the north, mexican government saturated a border state, sending tens of thousands of military soldiers

and federal police and the violence has gone down considerably. but you have other places like the state of guerrero, where this murder happened, where you see the violence spiked. and this specifically is the scene of a turf war between two very powerful drug cartels. and it might have explained what happened to this mayor. >> awful. rafael romo, thank you. now, life on mars? it is the stuff in sci-fi movies for now. could this really be a reality in our lifetime? one billionaire seems to think it can. elon musk, you heard the name, the ceo of the space flight company, space x, launched the cargo flight to the iss, international space station, and now the man behind that mission that was liftoff back in october. now elon musk says he wants to colonize the red planet. chad myers is here. and, chad, elon musk got a

pretty specific plan here. >> electric cars, founded pay pal, has a lot of money. he has a plan to put 80,000 people on the red planet, not immediately, the first group would be ten. they would have to do a lot of work. they would have to build the dome, they would have to get the water from the capsule into the dome, make carbon dioxide so that things would grow, figure out how to make fertilizer, methane and eventually oxygen and then shuttle people back and forth. 80,000. that's what he's thinking. by then there will be 8 billion people, he thinks one out of every 100,000 would want to go. maybe the first manned mission in a decade, maybe two decades from now. >> i was wondering the time frame. >> a tib to tcket to mars, half million dollars. we haven't talked to him directly, but i don't no he if that -- know if that's a round trip ticket. >> would you do it? >> no. >> i maybe would go, it takes, like, what, eight months to get

there. i would say hello and okay, thank, it's been fun. >> the golf courses are really expensive on mars. >> funny, chad. thank you very much. for the latest on a potential mars colony. up next, fantastic news on the economy, including home prices and how americans feel about the future, but the problem is congress may be putting a damper on all of that. ali velshi is about to give his take on what the fiscal cliff means to you. don't miss it. let's say you want to get ahead in your career. how do you get from here... to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route... leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color.

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from the cnn money newsroom in new york, i'm ali velshi. starting today i'll join you every day at this time with the most important news affecting business, the economy and your money. now, you probably don't need me to tell you this, but you're feeling better about the economy. the u.s. consumer confidence index hit its highest level since february of 2008. now, the conference board which conducts a survey that results in the monthly consumer confidence index says that, quote, over the past few months, consumers have grown

increasingly upbeat about the current and expected state of the jobs market and this turn around in sentiment is helping to boost confidence. that's the end of their quote. for the conspiracy theorists out there who might suggest these numbers are fudged, here is how they're put together. the conference board surveys 5,000 households. it asks them how they feel about business and job conditions and mixes in their income level and compares the data to what has been collected since the 1980s. now, other than the improving employment situation, other things that are making people feel a little more prosperous are their investments and the value of their home. and the fact that home prices continue to rise is probably a big factor that might be boosting your confidence. we got the latest case schiller index of home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas and the news is good. across those areas, home prices were 3.6% higher at the end of september than they were a year earlier. now, where were the price increases? some of the biggest gains were in those areas hardest hit by the housing crisis, phoenix,

gains of 20.4%. miami, prices rose 7.4%. detroit, up 7.6%. san diego, more than 4.1%. now, the rebound is being spurred in part by those record low mortgage rates. if you've got good credit and a down payment you can get a 30-year fixed mortgage for 3.31%. you can see 15 years for 2.63%. a drop in the number of foreclosures as well as a move by the banks to let home owners walk away from their homes using something called a short sale rather than foreclosing on them is part of it. so all of that is helping consumer confidence. what is hurting it? you know. i don't want to say it. it is that thing. okay, i'll say it. the fiscal cliff. the latest cnn orc poll shows nearly a quarter of a americans fear an economic crisis if congress doesn't act to avoid the cliff. another 44% predict major problems if a deal isn't reached between democrats and republicans to pass more targeted spending cuts and

reforms to entitlements like social security in exchange for more tax revenues. well it seems some republicans are prepared to budge a bit on the no new taxes pledge, despite ongoing and escalating threats by grover norquist, the founder of the pledge, and the head of a group called americans for tax reform. norquist told cnn's piers morgan that the pledge is a -- not a pledge of convenience, his latest target in a growing field of republicans who say they might reconsider the promise is new york republican congressman peter king. >> the pledge is not for life. but everybody who signed the pledge including peter king who tried y ed tied to weasel out oe on him as the new york sun said today, i hope his wife understands the commitments last a little longer than two years or something. but you don't tell the bank, oh, the mortgage, wasn't that a long time ago? if you make a commitment, you keep it. >> now, despite what he said it likely that high earners will pay higher taxes. what sort of benefits could others lose in this trade-off? something has got to give,

doesn't it? one idea, get rid of the tax benefit that homeowners get by being able to deduct mortgage interests. hold on. don't throw the remote at the tv set. i know it is a popular deduction. i know you like it. but it costs the feds $100 billion a year in -- and it is a dubious benefit to the federal government. the housing industry opposes getting rid of it because it fears that home sales will collapse again, just when housing is starting to make a comeback. the national association of realtors spent an estimated $25 million this year to lobby lawmakers against canning it. the mortgage interest deduction is one of the oldest tax breaks on the books. it is designed to encourage home ownership. these days it tends to benefit higher income home owners who save on average $5400 a year on their tax bill, lower income home owners save around $91 a year. it is not likely to go away. i'm just saying, it is an example of some of the tough discussions that need to be had

in washington. that's what you need to know right now. i'll be back this time tomorrow with the most important five minutes about business and the economy from the cnn money newsroom in new york. i'm ali velshi with your money. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship.

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it is known as conversion therapy. now a lawsuit is calling it fraud. the splc, the sovereign poverty law center, it is the first of a kind legal action, going after conversion or reparative therapy, a treatment to turn someone who is gay straight. the splc is suing this group, called jonah for healing. jonah, according to the website, stands for jews offering new alternatives for healing. a former client says what he went through was abuse. >> i just realized this is crazy. that this has become an obsession, when something translates from seeking wholeness, seeking healing into your life's obsession, that's just -- that's really unhealthy. >> cnn legal analyst sunny hostin is on the case with us.

sunny, give me the crux of the case here. >> it is interesting. this is first lawsuit of its kind to challenge conversion therapy, brooke, as a fraudulent business practice. in effect, what they're claiming is that they were defrauded by jonah, defrauded by these therapists into believing that their sexual orientation could somehow be changed through conversion therapy. and it really is a novel argument because these are the kinds of cases that you don't necessarily see in fraudulent business cases, you see them in other areas of the law. and i think they certainly have some support for it, because if you look at the stats, i mean, almost every medical and psychiatric association has discredited conversion therapy, and in fact, the american psychiatric association discredited it about four decades ago. there is no question there is certainly support for the argument that this is just

inappropriate therapy, that is just not real and that it is fraudulent. >> let me point out, we try to get the other side of this here, and let me also say we reached out to jonah and they haven't responded to our e-mails or calls, but back in october, i talked to a reparative therapist, he has no connection to the lawsuit you and i are talking about. but he did talk about the treatment and how it -- he went through it, it worked for him after he was abused. >> i'm talking about authentic reparative therapy. the other side of this issue will label this quackery and put this all in a ring of things that just aren't true, but i'm talking about authentic, profound in my case, psycho dynamic reparative therapy. reparative therapy helped save my life, my depression went down, my anxiety went down. my self-esteem went up. >> and apparently this wasn't the only story. if you go to jonah's website, there are multiple testimonials, people who had success. is that a solid counter to the

lawsuit, though? >> well, that will be the argument, right? the argument will be this isn't junk science, that this isn't quackery, that certainly this is an appropriate therapy to change one's sexual orientation. but, again, on the other side of it, there is just so much support in the medical community, and in terms of saying that this type of therapy is just not real, that it is -- it has been discredited. i spoke to many physicians just today about this particular therapy, and bar none, they are all saying that it is just not recognized as an appropriate therapy. >> you know, one of the reasons i spoke with that reparative therapist in october is that is because california outlawed reparative therapy. do you think the law will play into the lawsuit? >> you know, it is a fairly new ban on conversion therapy in california. california is the only state as far as i know, the first state in our nation to ban reparative

therapy or conversion therapy for people under the age of 18. so that will, again, lend support to the plaintiffs in this case that this therapy is just junk science, that it is not appropriate therapy for changing someone's sexual orientation. and so i suspect that we'll be hearing more not only about the california law banning it, but also just about the medical evidence supporting or not supporting this therapy. >> just wanted to talk about it, first of its kind lawsuit, see where it goes. sunny hostin on the case, thank you. >> thanks, brooke. drugs, gangs, murder. one expert says that's what many americans think of when they think of mexico and the country's next leader, minutes away from sitting down with president obama at the white house. my next guest explains why americans have the wrong idea about mexico. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day

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on a day of mourning for the victims of that factory fire in bangladesh, allegations of arson have now surfaced. more than 100 workers died when they were trapped inside that burning building. now the country's prime minister says he believes arsonists are to blame. meanwhile, walmart stores which were supplied clothing from this particular factory issued this statement. let me quote it. a supplier, subcontracted work to this factory without authorization. we have terminated the relationship with that supplier, end quote. across britain, the problem is flooding. look at this. pictures here taken across wales and england, a week of heavy, heavy rainfall has rivers bursting over their banks, major roads look like rivers. forecasters issued 276 flood warnings, just the past couple of days. hundreds of homes have had to

have been evacuated. and now many of the flooded areas are bracing for freezing temperatures tonight. yet another day here of protests in the streets of cairo. and today they turned deadly. the opposition says one demonstrator died after inhaling excessive amounts of teargas in tahrir square. a tent city has formed. protesters are refusing to leave until mohamed morsi steps away from his controversial lead of powers. we're on the ground in tahrir square and decided to translate the banners that have themselves become a sign of resistance and revolution. ian. >> reporter: there's no lack of science here in tahrir square. i'm going to translate them and tell you what they mean. this one here says the militias of the brotherhood will not terrorize the people. the anti-brotherhood people are accusing the brotherhood of

having militias enforcing their will. the people here say they're going to remain defiant against these people. now, this sign is making a reference to the brotherhood and islamists who people say are trying to turn egypt into an islamic republic instead of a reclusive public. this says down with the constitutional and interior needs merging. this is referring to the recent decree that gave him fair row-like powers which haven't changed since the downfall. this is accusing the guide of selling the revolution. a lot of egyptians feel that he's the one actually pulling the strings behind the scenes and making a lot of these controversial decisions. and this sign basically sums up the day. it says it's forbidden for the muslim brotherhood to enter here. ian lee, cnn, cairo.

>> ian, thank you. back here at home the president of the united states getting ready to sit down with the newly elected president of mexico. and my next guest says the biggest challenges between the u.s. and mexico are skewed perceptions whachlt is she talking about? what are americans getting so wrong? that's next. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah! energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems.

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president obama meeting with incoming president of mexico enrique pena nieto this hour at the white house. really this is a chance to reset the agenda between these two countries, these two of course we're neighbors with which in rekrenlt years dominated by thorny issues like immigration, fight against illegal drugs, security, et cetera. i want to talk about this with shannon o neil, author of "two nations indivisible," shannon, welcome. of course i read your piece in usa today and i thought it was interesting you point out the biggest challenge of all the challenges we could choose in

terms of issues facing the u.s. and mexico you say is skewed perceptions. give me examples. >> well, it is interesting. a poll just came out that was done of u.s. perceptions of mexico. when you look at the results, almost one out of every two americans when they thought of mexico thought of drugs. they also thought of corruption, poverty. majority said mexico is a problem, not a partner for the united states. and while this is one serious reality of mexico, particularly the security situation and the drug trafficking that comes through mexico to the united states, it's not the only reality for mexico. and it's not the only reality for u.s.-mexico relations sochlt that in itself is a problem for the two presidents as they meet today. >> you know, i lived in mexico city for a couple of months a number of years ago just to live and to study. you could tell at the time that it was merging into this middle class country and not necessarily this developing nation that so many americans perceive. but in listening to an interview that wolf blitzer conducted with

this newly elected president, he said one of the issues he wants to talk about with the president that the priority really was the economy. how does our relationship -- how can they help us and help our jobs? >> well, it's interesting. mexico actually has always been one of our big trading partners. but particularly when you think about u.s. exports not just trade overall but u.s. exports, mexico is the number two destination behind canada. but the number two destination for u.s. exports. so that supports u.s. jobs. in fact, an estimated 6 million american jobs today depend on mexico. so if mexico does well, mexican consumers and business does well, the u.s. does well too because we supply them. >> how can this trade help with -- we have to talk about this, the drugs, the immigration, other seemingly unsolvable issues. >> i mean, these are important issues too on the agenda. security will be a discussion for the two presidents today. and it's one that will continue as both presidents begin their new terms and one that we

shouldn't forget. but in addition to security, we should be thinking about the economic ties. we should be thinking about the people and family and communities that span the border because of immigration over the last 30 and 40 years. and mexico's relationship with the united states is much more complicated just than security. so that is a discussion for both presidents to have today but also for the two governments continue having as they go forward into their new terms. >> yeah. we'll look forward for that interview i mentioned with wolf in "the situation room" in a couple minutes. shannon, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. question, heads or tails, not a question you want to answer wrong with an election on the line. that's exactly what happened in dewit county in illinois. our affiliate has the story. >> reporter: dana smith is digging through her purse looking for a coin. >> here it is. now we have to make sure i have a quarter. >> reporter: the reason is a first in her more than 20 years working here. >> you never know.

anything is possible. >> reporter: smith's search is successful. >> we have a quarter. we're going to go for it. >> reporter: when the clock strikes 3:00, she flips the quarter into the air. >> tails. >> reporter: but this is no ordinary coin toss. it's deciding the outcome of a county board race. >> we just needed something to break the tie. so here we are. >> now you're trying to make me shoot myself in the foot, ain't ya? >> reporter: republican incumbent both want to serve district b, the problem, election results show they're dead even. >> we've waited 14 days for absentees to come in. we counted. we now have a tie between two of them. >> reporter: and since the state has no specific rules for a situation like this, the clerk is getting creative and flipping a coin. >> it's a head. >> reporter: as the incumbent ferguson goes first calling tails, but the quarter lands on heads meaning he loses. >> well, a